Installation Handbook

Basics

Tip: To prepare either of the latter two, you can use the setup-bootable script; see the pages linked above for details.

When you use Alpine in this mode, you need to use Alpine Local Backup (lbu) to save your modifications between reboots. That requires some writable medium, usually removable.

Note: When the setup-alpine script asks for a disk, say "none". It will then prompt whether you'd like to preserve modifications on any writable medium.

data mode

As in diskless mode, your OS is run from a read-only medium. However, here a writable partition (usually on a hard disk) is used to store the data in /var. That partition is accessed directly, rather than copied into a tmpfs; so this is better-suited to uses where large amounts of data need to be preserved between reboots.

Note: The setup-alpine script handles installing Alpine in this mode, too, when you supply a writable partition instead of "none", and request mode "data".

This mode may be used for mailspools, database and log servers, and so on.

sys mode

This is a traditional hard-disk install (see link for details). Both the boot system and your modifications are written to the hard disk, in a standard Linux hierarchy.

Note: The setup-alpine script handles installing Alpine in this mode, too, when you supply a writable partition instead of "none", and request mode "sys". By default, it will create three partions on your disk, for /boot, /, and swap; however you can also partition your disk manually.

This mode may be used for desktops, development boxes, and virtual servers.